Brickvesting
LEGO Investing Articles
108 blog articles in this category
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When doing some research on Ebay for another article I did, Should I throw away the box from the set I just opened? I noticed some outrageously high prices for used sets on Ebay - way over the Brickpicker pricing. At first I just figured these were just some Buy It Now (BIN) listings that one poor sap jumped on, but looking through them, more than half were auctions where tons of people bid. I became curious as to why – what makes these auctions so appealing that people spend extra money over th
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While I was writing a review for the 10174 AT-ST UCS set I came across a phenomenon that had me intrigued. It was quite evident that the set had experienced a recent surge in secondary market price growth. After finishing that review I have been researching other sets that seem to share this second wind renaissance. Firstly I’m going to repeat a bit of the information from the 10174 review to set the scene before moving onto a few other prominent examples of second wind growth. 10174 AT-ST Lo
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There have been several articles in the site about pretty much every single aspect of LEGO Investing: from how to store your sets to some of the "Hazzards", as Quacs explained in his blog article However, there are some other factors we all need to consider when we decide to enter this particular way of investment: the costs. I know it sounds pretty obvious, but I strongly believe that a lot of people even in this same forum, are not thoroughly consider all the costs they are incurring at the d
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Arbitrage is a term used to describe the practice of using price variances between different markets in order to make a profit. This may mean different geographic markets such as countries, regions, states, or even cities and towns. The term can also cover selling in different time periods if you are buying in today’s market and holding to sell in a future market. In the modern financial world using arbitrage is a common tool and it is what helps keep most international markets and prices stabl
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Most of us here love when we sell a set online, no matter what it is. That sound of "cha-ching" comes and we are in Ecstasy. It brings a feeling like no other . But, unfortunately we are generally immediately brought down to earth by the fact that we now have to ship it. If you all are like me, you hate this part. You can never decide exactly how much shipping is going to be and whether you should add extra services. You always worry something will happen during the shipment. You ask yourself,
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I have done several articles about selling on Ebay, and several other BrickPicker members have as well. You can tell by just trying to sell on Ebay, or reading there articles that selling on Ebay includes quite a few different choices about how to list: Do I offer Free Shipping? Buy it Now or Auction? When do I end the Auction? I have been doing a lot of different articles touching on each of these and I wanted to touch on another big one that I felt could have an impact on sales and also offers
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Original Idea by rcdb1984 "Turboflipping is an original term coined by rcdb1984" Whether you are new to the LEGO investing game or a seasoned pro, there is one thing that will always remain constant: a desire for fast and "easy" profits. As you probably know, however, most of the time to earn significant amounts of money you will need to hold your investments for a relatively long period of time depending on your target return, but there are some instances where you can take advantage of mark
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A disclaimer before we start: I have thoroughly enjoyed the previews for The Lego Movie. I giggled at times and was generally pretty excited at the prospect of seeing it in theaters. I've also been checking out the sets from the movie and reading/watching reviews of the builds. Overall, I think they are kinda eccentric and zany, like my uncle Jim after a lot of 'eggnog' at Christmas, dancing to Santa Baby with my wife's scarf. Fun, fun, fun! Sadly, fun alone does not profits make; does fun and p
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It's well known by now, but I started a Lego business a while back in August and have been, like most of you, working to make it the best that it can be. I work in an industry where efficiency is not only the key, but it is expected to grow and thrive with every new iteration of a product or service. Without progress we have nothing, right? Well, I bring this same mindset to my business everyday. Anytime I do something, no matter if I have done it 100 times, I say "how could I have done this bet
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Every time you are confronted with a Lego set for sale your brain makes a decision on whether or not it would be a good purchase. Sometimes people put a lot of thought into this decision, other times not and it’s an impulse buy. Usually the main question that you ask yourself internally (if buying for investment) is can I make a profit on this set? This is often quickly followed by shall I buy it now or wait for a better deal at a later time? It’s this later decision that I’d like to examin
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Tracking your Lego investments is one of the most important topics that are discussed on the BrickPicker forums. Since I see quite a few questions popping up on the forums about how to keep track of your Lego investments, I figured I’ll write a blog article about it and maybe some of you will find it helpful. Terminology First we need to get our terminology straight as it will help us to pick out appropriate tools for the job. There are few ways you can treat your Lego business. Long term
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I was strolling through my local Walmart and saw two Cloud Cuckoo Palaces. Aware that this set was becoming hard to find, I decided to purchase one to part out. I knew that parting out a set is something that many Brickpickers would like to know more about; therefore, I decided to write an article based on my personal experience. This article is for members who would like to have more knowledge on this subject. Without further ado, let's get started! Part I: Know Your Set Before you buy a
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This article attempts to describe Craigslist experience of buying bulk Lego lots and provide some lessons learned from newbie perspective so others can benefit from experience and hopefully not make same mistakes that I've made.. I've been fan of Lego since childhood, never really entered a dark age there was always a set or two or three around the house most of them were technic. I seriously considered Lego investing 3 or 4 months ago and turned to Craigslist bulk buys to offset the burden of
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There has been a lot of success in the world of LEGO investing, but there have also been many losses. In a previous article, I wrote about successful sets, but to be successful, we must know how to avoid failures. There are many things that can make a set flop, like an unpopular theme, bad minifigures, poor design, etc. We must know the good from the bad, learn from the past, and carefully evaluate all advice given to us in able to succeed in LEGO investing. Unsuccessful Themes of the Past
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Have you ever wandered around the LEGO Shop website and come across the Seasonal theme? Glanced through the page quickly and admire the seasonal accuracy of the small sets? This small collection of LEGO sets not only offer great holiday memorabilia, but also superb investments! Seasonal sets are sets released during certain times of the year, ie. Winter, in relation to different holidays or events, ie. Christmas. These sets are often only available for a few months, and generally once they are
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This blog follows on from my previous blogs presenting the top 20 sets in terms of secondary market price growth according to the data we have available here on Brickpicker. This update will be based on values as at the end of Mar-14. This means comparisons in the “Last Rank” column of the tables will be comparing movements from the Feb-14 positions. Again, here are some notes on the scope before I begin: I have not restricted the qualifying sets by size or age or any other dimension Inform
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LEGO, officially known as The LEGO Group, is currently the #1 toy maker in the world. But did you know at one time, it was on its knees and at the edge of bankruptcy? This article speaks of the Danish toy maker and how they pulled just the right strings to make this remarkable and educational toy a success in a declining toy market. It's the story about the "Eye of the Lego Tiger" and how a company went from one extreme to the other and back again. Past Days of Glory Once upon a time bef
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One of the most exciting times for a LEGO investor results from visiting LEGO S@H (LEGO's online storefront), looking for a particular set and suddenly realize there is a tag with the following message: "Retired Product"; Expectation and hope suddenly becomes joy. If you are reading this article, odds are you are already familiar with the concept of EOL (End Of Line), but just in case I think it would be appropriate to summarize what it means. LEGO produces different sets along the year, and ea
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The Green Image Over the past several years, The LEGO Group has made an effort to be a "green" multinational company. Investing in large wind turbines was one way they illustrated this desire to become an ecologically friendly company. Another way was reducing their carbon use and abuse. One way to do this was to shrink their LEGO box size. As the company stated in this memo... According to what our friends at the LEGO Company are putting on their website, they have seriously plans to red
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I have to admit, I am addicted to Lego store displays. I love them. I scour eBay and Bricklink for any sort of Lego display. From Agents to Star Wars, they are awesome in my opinion. But what are they really worth and are they a good investment? Lego store displays are rare for the most part. These plexiglass covered, Lego dioramas can be found at any local Toy R' US or Target. The thing that makes them rare is that they are not for sale to the public from Lego or any department store. Rumor ha
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Legos are an iconic toy. Through my work at www.BrickPicker.com, I have also found out they are valued as an investment vehicle for some very smart collectors out there. Year after year, new sets are released and older sets are discontinued, making those older sets more valuable with each passing year. But an untapped market within the Lego world is now emerging...Custom models and minifigures. With the advent of CAD software for the Lego community, programs such as Ldraw(www.LDraw.org) gi
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Over the years, Lego has released hundreds of 'mini' sets to the buying public. These mini sets usually were packed in small polybags and had approximately 25-75 pieces. Most major Lego themes usually had a mini set or two that related to their larger sets. Some sets had mini figures in them, but the majority(and the ones we are discussing here) are miniature versions of other larger Lego sets. They were and still are priced well below $10(US). These tiny sets were often used as "stocking s
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Amazing how much money people have! Seriously, this goes to show the amazing appreciation and love for the world of Lego Star Wars. Either the person here has too much money to blow, has no idea what they are looking for on eBay or is just plain crazy. Looking at the numbers the Brickpicker database, we know that the current going rate for a Used #10179 UCS Millennium Falcons is $1125.39 USD, which is way below what this fellow paid. Next month when we run our numbers, I will be very interested
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"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." These are the immortal words of Gordon Gecko, a fictional maven from the movie "Wall Street" who made millions "parting out" struggling companies with asset-rich balance sheets. As I peruse Brickpicker on a daily basis, these words always echo in my head. For most members, BP is part of their Lego hobby: the Pricing Index, Discussion Forum, and blog articles provide outlets for members to share, enrich and supplement their Lego hobby. Yet Brickpicker
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So, you have been buying LEGO sets non stop over the past few months, maybe even years, and you have noticed your Brickfolio has increased in value by 10,000% (exaggerating just a bit here). Or maybe you are a short term investor looking to make some "quick" money to fund your own collection or long term investing choices. It can be sort of difficult to decide how to start selling some of your inventory, as well as where to get the most cost effective materials so that you end up with more money
